Dovekies
Alex Barker
Is the phenomenon I'm about to describe so commonly known no one has bothered to mention it? About 20 years ago I was a commuting student at UMM. One morning in the fall after a Nor'easter, I saw a strange little bird struggling on the roadside, somewhere between Harrington and Machias and pretty far inland. I took it to school to Gail Kraus, who Identified it as a dovekie. She and Charlie Duncan told me it was not uncommon for a flock of dovekies to be blown inland by a storm. The locals call it a "wrack of dovekies," I was told. My bird was thin and in poor condition and despite Dr. Kraus' excellent care, didn't make it through the night, as also befell a couple of others brought in.
I hope the Manset dovekie is happy and well-fed and not lost.
Mary Lou in Sullivan
ri...@thenaturalhistorycenter.com
flights of Dovekie being blown to shore. The biggest episode may have been
the winter of 1932-33 when thousands of Dovekie were reported to be raining
down on New York City. The literature has many instances of smaller such
episodes.
Certainly individuals turn up inland on occasion. Personally, I have had two
occasions where I found Dovekie inland after a fall storm. In both cases the
bird was in bad shape and did not survive. Perhaps they have somewhat
limited dietary requirements that preclude non-marine foods.
In terms of migration, there are records of hundreds per hour being seen
flying past Schoodic Point. These records go back to the 60s.
Richard MacDonald
The Natural History Center
6 Firefly Lane, "On the Village Green"
P.O. Box 6
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
207/801-2617 (store)
207/266-9461 (mobile)
Ri...@TheNaturalHistoryCenter.com
www.TheNaturalHistoryCenter.com
www.facebook.com/TheNaturalHistoryCenter
Mary Lou in Sullivan
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Norman Famous
Down East Nature Tours
Hello Mary Lou
I was just talking about the health of this bird yesterday. The Manset bird
looks to be in excellent condition and by the number of dives it was taking
seems to also be finding small fish, copepods and other zooplankton so what
ever it is eating there seems to be enough. I have photos of it fluttering
out of the water. Molt strategies for dovekie are understudied because these
birds are designed for pelagic living and therefore are not easily studied.
There are historical records indicating that Dovekie would fill up on
Alewives and could indicate a historical relatioship pelagic birds had with
the Down East Coast. Remove the dams and open the fish-ways and we might
see more Dovekie and others in our local waters.
Dovekie are "little balls of feathers" and the entire creature is designed
to overcome "surface tension". I have nice shots of Bowed wings that look
like sabers cutting into the water. I see that on occasion out at sea and
to observe it from land helps me to visualize the open ocean environment.
In one shot the very last part of the bird to be seen on a dive is the Feet,
presumably pushing the water on its dive, the tail fully submerged. I
spoke below about the role of feathers and body movements that help break
the surface tension of the water and some of the photos I took of the
"upwelling" that aids these birds at sea.
Dovekie and other sea birds also have symbiotic relationships with the
whales of the ocean. We know this from recent work during the Right Whale
research trips. Our data show nice correlations with feeding Right Whales
and seabirds including Dovekie. Whales transport nutrients and food for
many pelagic bird species which we have found synergistically foraging with
and in the vicinity of Right Whales at sea. (Good et el 2011/12 )
While there certainly are lots of records of Dovekie flying by MDI and
Schoodic, during the the last 20 years there have been very few seabirds
birds brought to our local Acadia Wildlife Foundation here on MDI or that I
have personally heard about. Bill Townsend and I just spoke and he
remembers about 37 years ago there were "flocks of Dovekie" in Sorrento for
around for two years and since then very few reports other than Fly-bys.
Certainly birds come towards to and are found inland. Both Bill and I have
Dovekie almost every winter on MDI but both agree that this SW Harbor
Dovekie is a unique opportunity and record of Dovekie on MDI in recent
years. Also there are more capable birders to pick up these rarer avian
events so that will also help create a data base for these types of pelagic
species.
Ann at AWF and I have spoken at length over the years about the difficulties
of rehabilitating these Pelagic birds that are blown or come inland. I
remembered two Common Murre that were brought in a few years ago and she
could only remember 2 and possibly a 3rd time for Dovekie. over the last
15-20 years. The Dovekie recorded by all of us is the first bird to be
observed like this during the last twenty years. Of course there are
historical records here in the GOM but this species population at sea is
perhaps greater than 100, 000. Statistically many birds will be found along
Maine's 7000 miles of island and coastal shorelines.
The fact pelagic birds have been blown to land in the first place indicates
that they are typically under great stress. And then, what do you feed
them...that could mimic a world we know little to nothing about ... the
open ocean. When I am out on the open ocean, I know that I am out of
place!.....When you are on the Bow of a ship there comes the haunting
understanding that this is a land designed for "little balls of feathers" ,
"damn good fliers" or "fat blubbery giants"! ... and not a skinny
underdressed and obsessed ornithologist. SO... Pelagic birds are by nature
difficult to rehabilitate either because of the physical and philological
stress and trauma the bird has gone through or the specialized marine diet
they certainly dine on in the open ocean.
My images show a plump and healthy plumage, seemingly not damaged and I
have some interesting images which I will add to my growing collection on my
facebook pages.
Michael
Michael J. Good, MS
President Down East Nature Tours (since 1993)
Founder and Director Research and Development 14th Acadia Birding Festival,
May 31-June 3, 2012
Co-founder Penobscot Watershed Eco Center
150 Knox Road
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
207-288-8128 / 207-479-4256
in...@DownEastNatureTours.com
www.DownEastNatureTours.com
in...@AcadiaBirdingFestival.com
www.AcadiaBirdingFestival.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Barker
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 8:40 AM
To: maine...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Maine-birds] Dovekies
Mary Lou in Sullivan
Hello John and Debbie,
I wanted to add to the Southwest Harbor Dovekie story ....that there have
not been many opportunities for me to personally study the foraging behavior
of this bird this close to shore. This is a bird that is typically only
found by boat (or on the nesting grounds). In the Gulf of Maine, the
largest numbers of birds are 45-100 miles off the Mount Desert Island
coastline. So far this has been a very mild coastal winter and we are also
seeing large numbers of male Ducks like Red-breasted Merganser and others.
In the last twenty years there have been sightings of Dovekie but never this
accessible and almost always seen off of Otter Point or Sewall.... which of
course is not far from the opening to SW Harbor. The other EXCITING thing
about this find is that there seems to be FOOD in SW Harbor in the form of
small forage fish. I watched it bring up some fish to the surface the other
day. In the pelagic world once again, Dovekie (and other seabirds) finish
the nutrient cycling that is started by Right Whales who brining food and
nutrients to the surface from the bottom of the GOM. Watching the Dovekie
"feeding strategy" from the end of a dock is not something that happens
everyday on MDI. On the ocean this time of year your hands and fingers are
frozen and the conditions are sometimes rough so this is Totally cool!!
The water around this "little ball of feathers'" is constantly being
"Upwelled" by the turning movements that Dovekie make with their feet,
feathers and body. They also "shimmer" or shake the feathers creating
micro-concentric rings the breaks up the surface tension allowing them
driving small detritus to the surface. In the pelagic world there
typically are phytoplankton, plankton, small fish, left-overs from Right
Whales and other marine mammals so this is a valuable strategy for feeding
out there on the great sea. In the Pelagic world there are very few days
when the water is sitting still so upwelling food is an energy saving
mechanism.It was fascinating for me to see feeding in total action AND
capture it digitally from a dock!! I have seen hundreds of Dovekie, some
that close to the ship, but always in motion and moving....on the sea.....
What a total treat.
My Photos show the plumage very nicely sometimes brown, sometimes black in
different light. I am still going through them but the cheek shows a brown
patch in the right light but is black when wet and underwater. The Alcids'
do not want any light to glitter from their eyes while they are fishing
(scaring the fish) so the dark around the face and the dark eyes is also
an important foraging strategy that all the Alcids use in one form or
another. The plumage strategy of Alcids aids their foraging underwater and
the location of coloration in the Alcids is interesting and understudied.
I would love any calls from Dovekie watchers.....
Michael
Michael J. Good, MS
President Down East Nature Tours
Founder and Director Research and Development 14th Acadia Birding Festival,
May 31-June 3, 2012
Co-founder Penobscot Watershed Eco Center
150 Knox Road
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
207-288-8128 / 207-479-4256
in...@DownEastNatureTours.com
www.DownEastNatureTours.com
in...@AcadiaBirdingFestival.com
www.AcadiaBirdingFestival.com
